How about his Trumpian conspiracy theory that environmentalism is the evil result of money being provided by “foreign interests” solely to destroy the Alberta oil and gas industry, and his pledge to use public money to conduct harassment campaigns against charities like the David Suzuki Foundation and the Tides Foundation? All he has to do is add that climate change is a hoax being perpetrated by the Chinese and he and Trump could be BFFs!
Le sigh. Yet another person who does not understand equalization payments.
Provinces do not transfer any money to other provinces. Rich people pay more in federal taxes, and Alberta has lots of rich people. It’s got the highest average income in Canada – nearly twice the average income in Quebec, depending on how you count it. The feds then transfer money to provinces with lots of poor people.
Quebec has lots and lots of poor people for historical reasons, namely a population that was actively discouraged from being educated, being entrepreneurial, and being successful.
How bad was education? The first Minister of Education was appointed in the 1960s. This province still has the lowest high school graduation rate in the country.
The situation is improving, but Quebec started so far behind other provinces that it’s going to take a while to catch up.
I know exactly how equalization payments work. You might want to look earlier in the thread if you don’t believe me.
I also know that having the federal government distribute the funds is no different than if Alberta cut a cheque, save that control of disbursement is handled by the federal government. So all provinces have their taxes raised by a cumulative $20 billion or whatever this year’s number is. Then the ‘have not’ provinces get additional money from that pool. This is essentially identical, financially speaking, than if equalization wasn’t taxed by the feds but each province was ordered to cut cheques to other provinces based on the formula. Either way, Alberta loses money and Quebec and a handful of other provinces gain money. No way around that.
Jesus. Yes, poor Quebec is just a victim of history, and its poor economic performance couldn’t have anything at all to do with having by far the highest taxes in Canada, along with public services that other provinces do not have. It couldn’t have anything to do with Quebec’s protectionism or its forced language purity or its high regulatory burden on businesses, or anything else. Quebec is just a poor victim.
Fun fact: Quebec gets more money per capita from equalization payments than Alberta gets in oil royalties. Even in our best year Alberta got about 6.1 billion in royalties. This year Quebec will get about $13 billion dollars in equalization while Alberta earns about $837 million from oil royalties. And yet, even though we’re running $10 billion dollar deficits and Quebec has close to a balanced budget, Quebec will get billions of dollars from Alberta.
Also, if you look at the equalization formula, it biases against provinces with lower taxes, as if lower taxes is something they should be punished for, and provinces with sky-high taxes get more money from equalization. This is a huge moral hazard at the provincial scale, and carries an underlying assumption that it’s better for the state to control the money in the economy rather than private individuals. The whole basis of equalization is statist punishment for fiscal responsibility and reward for large government and high taxes. It should be opposed on that basis alone.
Then you should fix your education system. The 1960’s was 50-60 years ago. Just how much time do you need?
50 years is a long while. There are countries on this planet that have risen up from peasant agriculture in that time and now have better education systems than Quebec. Perhaps Quebec should solve its own problems and stop leaning on other provinces to finance their stupid choices.
At the very least you are splitting hairs when it comes to describing equalization payments.
But realistically, you are refusing to accept the fact that there is more Alberta money flowing into Quebec (via Ottawa) than from any other province.
It’s time for Canada to reassess equalization payments, and time for Quebec to get it’s economy off it’s ass.
Of all the have-not provinces, Quebec is the least deserving.
Lethbridge West turned out the be the closest race in the province, and tonight’s local news gave us the official result: NDP by a margin of 255 votes. That’s out of slightly more than 22,000 votes cast. Thew news said there could be a recount with a margin that small, but stopped short of stating that there would be.
The feds collect money from rich individuals. Alberta happens to have a small population with lots and lots of rich individuals.
I mean, we’re talking the highest average income in Canada by tens of thousands of dollars.
Raise taxes, increase oil royalties, implement social programs, and bam Alberta would be on the have-not list.
You may want to look at debt levels. Quebec’s debt is massive and spending has finally been reined in.
Spoken like a true member of the 1%
It’s a massive cultural shift to convince people that education is worthwhile. But really, thinking of life in Quebec as a shift from feudal peasantry to the modern world is a good analogy.
Specifics, please. If I’m completely wrong, you can tell me how.
First, the people who were making the big average incomes in Alberta were people working up in the oil patch who got big salaries because it’s dirty, cold, dangerous work in an unpleasant place to live. Work which also requires a high degree of training.
And the places they lived were incredibly expensive. My brother was living in a basement suite with three other workers in ‘rooms’ divided by bedsheets, and he was paying around a grand a month for the privilege. If you wanted to actually live in an apartment by yourself, if you could find one you were paying New York or Los Angeles prices for an apartment in northern Canada. So it’s not as great as you think. They have high incomes, but they aren’t living like lawyers or doctors or professors.
People living in Ft. Macleod or Innisfail, on the other hand, make the kind of money other Canadians make, because they do the same kinds of jobs. So let’s not paint the Province as just a bunch of rich people.
I agree. I’m glad you agree that high taxes and big government are a sure way to turn a ‘have’ province into a ‘have not’ province. That’s why it’s so annoying to be criticised for being a ‘have’ province by the people who did those things and now need ‘help’.
You’re welcome.
I am not even close to the 1%. The fact that you think that anyone making these arguments must be rich tells me a lot.
Really? You’re going with that? Quebec was essentially a feudal peasant society in 1960? Okay then.
Sam,
What’s with the post asking me to explain something, when I explained it in the post you’re quoting?
The feds collect tax money. The feds collect more tax money from people with high incomes. Alberta just happens to have the highest incomes in the country. Highest average, highest mode, highest median. By any measure, incomes in Alberta are higher than in any other province, and higher than the Canadian average.
Let’s look at Fort McLeod, since you brought it up.
Median total income of $32,981, after tax income of $30,432, compared to the Federal average income of $34,204, after tax income of $30,866 (Stats from the Canadian census Census Profile, 2016 Census )
Seems to be about the same size and relevance as Prescott, Ontario, which has a median income of $27,520 ($25,963 after-tax).
Here’s where I think your perceptions are skewed.
When I lived in NYC a friend was renting out his sofa for USD$850 a month in 2003. At that time I was spending $1400 on a subsidized one-bedroom apartment. I knew professors at three universities and they spent more to have a two-bedroom apartment.
My banker friend had a two-bedroom and was spending $3,000 a month.
This is what Albertans just don’t seem to understand: you’ve got a large group of people that earn a lot of money and that has raised incomes throughout the province, and the rest of the country earns a lot less money.
It was a joke about your antipathy to the redistribution of wealth.
I said Quebec went through a massive cultural shift. It’s called La Grande Noirceur (The great darkness)
Those who say equalization is Alberta paying other provinces are deliberately misrepresenting the process.
You ever notice that it’s always Quebec that is criticized? Not the Atlantic provinces which have been recipients just as long?
Quebec has the population of any three western provinces combined and it just happens to have a lot of poor, old, uneducated people. That’s changing, but you basically have to wait for the old people to die off.
Were you expecting that the conservative government should put lefties in its cabinet? How many conservatives are in Trudeau’s cabinet?
In any event, you don’t understand the modern meaning of ‘diversity’ as practiced on campuses and promoted by the left. Today, ‘diversity’ means diversity in skin color and gender, so long as the ‘diverse’ people all toe the same political line and have the same values. So a college can trumpet its ‘diversity’ by showing how many women and people of color are in the faculty, while overlooking the fact that they are 90% left-wing and conservative speakers are deplatformed.
